THE EFFECT OF FREE FATTY-ACIDS ON LIPID A ND PROTEIN-COMPONENTS OF THE ERYTHROCYTE-MEMBRANE

Free fatty acids and their derivatives disturbed the structure of the lipid bilayer and the protein-lipid complementarity in the erythrocyte membrane, thereby, inducing the quenching of fluorescence of membrane -bound 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonic acid and causing a significant decrease in the membrane lipid microviscosity. The effect of free fatt y acids and their derivatives on me erythrocyte membrane depended on t he hydrophobicity and the charge of the effector molecule and on its l ocation in the membrane. At the same time, fatty acids (in the lytic c oncentrations) did not change the thermostability of the erythrocyte m embrane proteins, but drastically changed the thermostability of human serum albumin, a globular protein.